UPDATED: Children 'still being sent to prison'

(Adds government reaction)

The NGO Mid-dlam ghad-Dawl complained today that its appeals for children not to be sent to the prisons have gone unheeded, and a 13-year-old boy is current being held there.

"It is clear that after the cases we had earlier this year, the authorities have not taken any measures so that children would not be put in prison, where they can meet prisoners who are much older than them", the NGO said.

"The prisons are not a place for children, and we appeal to the authorities to shoulder their responsibilities and ensure that the country has the facilities to cater for these cases. In the context of the absence of proper facilities, we also appeal to the courts not to continue to send children to the prisons, since this is doing them more harm than good."

A spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry in a reaction said the government was in the process of implementing a set of measures to address such isolated cases so that minors would be protected when they needed to be sent to detention.